However, it yesterday emerged that Mr Boles had yet again criticised rural campaigners who have opposed his controversial plans.

“Anyone currently in a house is living on what used to be a green field,” Mr Boles told The Sun newspaper. Why is it ok for them but not others?”

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said that Mr Boles’ proposals for a new “affordability test” would result in “unnecessary loss of countryside and deliver very little affordable housing”.

Neil Sinden said: “Not only is the idea of affordability going to be unworkable and won’t deliver the desired result of more affordable housing, it’s likely to increase pressure on the countryside unnecessarily.

“This smacks of a nice theoretical idea dreamt up in a think-tank…which has no chance at all of working on the ground in the real world.

“It’s going to create untold difficulties for local authorities. This is one step further away from protecting the countryside against unnecessary development.”

The new guidance was issued following a review last year by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor who concluded that up to 80 per cent of the 7,000 rules governing where development can take place should go.

Lord Taylor was appointed to review thousands of pages of planning guidance which underlies the NPPF.

His review found that existing guidance was “not fit for purpose”.

The Telegraph led an eight-month Hands Off Our Land campaign last year before the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was set, urging the Government not to weaken protections for greenfield and green belt land.

Mr Boles insisted that the new guidance will help local communities to protect green spaces.

“This guidance reinforces all Green Belt and environmental protections and will allow people to understand clearly how they can protect the local green spaces that are important to them,” he said.

“Planning needs to be accessible to all but for too long it has been guarded by technocrats, lawyers and council officers.

“Our new easy-to-use online guidance, has stripped away outdated advice and simplified a host of different documents into one website that anyone can use.”

Many internet users were unable to access the new online tool in the hours after it was released. Some took to Twitter to complain that the new website was not accessible.